Candace Thurber was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1883. Her mother supported the family by taking in boarders. She graduated from the Packard Institute, received her A.B. from Smith College in 1904, and her M.A. from Columbia University. After completing her education she taught English in a private school and co-owned a children's bookstore in New York City. In 1912 she married Thomas Kennedy Stevenson, They had one daughter, Caroline. During her adult years Candace Stevenson lived in Missouri, New York City, and Vermont. Many of her poems appeared on the editorial page of the New York Times. She submitted many of her stories to magazines but endured much rejection. She published a collection of her poems, First the Blade, in 1952. Stevenson died July 30, 1968.